Method and apparatus for reproducing data

This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 2007-128755, filed Dec. 12, 2007 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

1. Field of the Invention

Aspects of the present invention relate to a method and apparatus for reproducing data, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for reproducing data downloaded from an external server.

2. Description of the Related Art

An optical disc, on which large amounts of data can be recorded, is widely used as a recording medium. An apparatus for reproducing data reproduces data from a loaded recording medium, such as a digital versatile disc (DVD) or a blue-ray disc (BD). Such an apparatus separately includes a local storage besides a part on which the recording medium is loaded. The local storage can store downloaded data once the apparatus is connected to a network server that stores data. Accordingly, the apparatus can reproduce data recorded on the loaded recording medium or independently reproduce data stored in the local storage. Alternatively, the apparatus can create and reproduce new data by mixing the data recorded on the recording medium and the data stored in the local storage.

The apparatus can download audio/video (AV) data or an application program, apart from the data recorded on the recording medium, into the local storage. When the apparatus downloads AV data from an external server, the apparatus can download full data that is to be reproduced in a clip unit by using a playlist. When the playlist is a progressive playlist and the apparatus has downloaded some clips from among the data that is to be reproduced, the apparatus can reproduce the downloaded clips while continuously downloading the remaining clips. If a clip that is to be reproduced next according to a reproduction order in the playlist has not yet been downloaded, the apparatus notifies a user or an application, and stops reproducing the data. In this case, the user has to request the apparatus to again reproduce the downloaded data. The apparatus reproduces the data not from the location where the reproduction has stopped, but from the beginning of the data, causing inconvenience to the user.

Aspects of the present invention provide a method and apparatus for reproducing data, which, when data that is to be reproduced cannot be reproduced since the data has not yet been downloaded in a local storage or not yet been activated, provide independent data separate from the data to a user during the time consumed to reproduce the data.

Aspects of the present invention also provide a method and apparatus for reproducing data, which, when data that is to be reproduced has not yet been downloaded in a local storage, stops reproduction and automatically reproduces the data after the data to be reproduced is downloaded.

According to an aspect of the present invention, a method of reproducing data is provided. The method includes downloading data to a local storage; and reproducing the downloaded data according to a predetermined reproduction order and a virtual file system created to reflect the downloaded data, wherein if data that is to be reproduced next has not yet been downloaded, the reproducing of the data according to the predetermined reproduction order includes stopping data reproduction; detecting a location at which the data reproduction stopped; and reproducing data from the location where data reproduction stopped once downloading the data that is to be reproduced next is completed.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the reproducing of the data according to a predetermined reproduction order further includes reproducing additional data that is pre-stored in the local storage after stopping the data reproduction; and stopping the reproducing of the additional data once the downloading of the data that is to be reproduced next is completed. The downloading of data in a local storage may include storing the data independently from the additional data in the local storage. The data reproduction may be performed according to a progressive playlist unit, and the stopping of data reproduction may comprise stopping the reproducing of the clip AV streams if a clip AV stream that is to be reproduced next from among clip AV streams assigned by a playitem included in a progressive playlist has not yet been downloaded. The stopping of data reproduction may include storing information about a reproduction location of a clip AV stream that was last reproduced before stopping the data reproduction; wherein the reproducing of data from the location where data reproduction stopped may include reproducing the clip AV stream that is to be reproduced next from the reproduction location by using the information about the reproduction location. The method may further include generating a virtual file structure to reproduce data read from a recording medium; and when the data is downloaded in the local storage, updating the virtual file structure, wherein the reproducing of the data comprises extracting a reproduction order of clip AV streams from the progressive playlist in the updated virtual file structure, and reproducing the clip AV streams according to the reproduction order.

According to another aspect of the present invention, an apparatus to reproduce data is provided. The apparatus includes a local storage to store data downloaded from an external server; and a controller to reproduce the data stored in the local storage according to a predetermined reproduction order and a virtual file system that reflects the downloaded data; wherein, when data that is to be reproduced next has not been downloaded, the controller stops data reproduction, detects a location at which the data reproduction stopped, and reproduces the data that was being stopped from the detected location once the data that is to be reproduced next is downloaded.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a computer readable recording medium is provided, having recorded thereon a program to executing a method of reproducing data. The method includes downloading data to a local storage; and reproducing the data according to a predetermined reproduction order and a virtual file system; wherein, if data that is to be reproduced next has not yet been downloaded, the reproducing of the data according to the predetermined reproduction order includes stopping data reproduction; detecting a location at which the data reproduction stopped; and reproducing data from the location where data reproduction stopped once the downloading of the data that is to be reproduced next is completed.

Additional aspects and/or advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and/or other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a multimedia data structure for reproducing a moving image, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagram of a virtual file system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

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Audio and video apparatus and method for controlling the same
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Television signal processing for dynamic recording or reproducing

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